Effect of Developed Low Cost Minimal Medium on Lipid and Exopolysaccharide Production by Lipomyces starkeyi Under Repeated Fed-batch and Continuous Cultivation

The main objective of this study was to investigate the effects of a low cost minimal medium, developed by the UL Bioprocessing Lab, on the cultivation of Lipomyces starkeyi NRRL Y-11557 using repeated fed-batch and continuous fermentation strategies. The highest cell and lipid concentrations obtained were 22.7 g L–1 and 11.67 g L–1 under repeated fed-batch cultivation, respectively. Continuous cultivation with the dilution rate of 0.06 h–1 presented the highest cell (0.401 g g–1) and lipid yields (0.177g g–1). Exopolysaccharide production was observed when L. starkeyi was cultivated in the minimal media supplemented with 90 g L–1 glucose under repeated fed-batch fermentation. The produced exopolysaccharide is likely composed of 4–5 repeating sugar units, incorporating mannose and galactose and their respective uronic acids.